Luckily I have grounded myself to realize that my mother and grandmother are right. I will make mistakes and even if I do not, my children are going to find times to under appreciate my mothering skills. The more I live this crazy life of a mom, I realize that books are great to fall back on but they are not a valid substitution for the actual experiences of being a mother. We are three-dimensional beings with emotions; we are not a one dimensional black and white paperback devoid of erroneous zones. In fact, there are times when you may want to launch the clever-beyond-years, all-knowing text book through your front room window. And even when you do follow all the educated and researched wisdom, you will find that for every book you read there is another one with conflicting advice from PhD?s and MD?s that will still keep you guessing at your adequacy of a parent. In the meantime, until your kids have children of their own, they are not going to forgive you when you leave them with a new babysitter for the first time nor will they excuse your uncoolness of not letting them leave the house without shoes, play near edges where they may fall or hook up with society?s possible law-breaking citizen of the future. As well, you will make mistakes. There will be times when you think your child is exaggerating to get out of dishes?right before he projectiles dinner across your kitchen floor. Your motherly attention scale will surely go off balance toward one sibling leaving the other miffed and brooding. And yes, in this day of ?spare the rod? mentality, you may very well retract your arm and release a swift whack on a well-padded diapered butt. But, in the end, if your goal and desire is to love and nurture your children the best you can, surely you will not deviate too far off the path of good and crash into failure.

Being a mother can be construed as one of those thankless jobs in life. But, luckily it is also a role of delayed gratification. For all the time and energy you are putting into raising your child into the near perfect specimen of a human, you, nor they, will fully know the result of your diligence until they become adults. You will receive a few more long-awaited thank you?s from your kids as they start fine-tuning their own parenting skills. You will be able to see and feel great about your obvious contributions toward their success and forgive yourself for your perceived errors that contribute toward their flaws. It is then that you can sit back and think to yourself, Wow! My child has become a great person because of me?and in spite of me!

About The Author

Sherri L Dodd is the creator and author of Mom Looks Great - The Fitness Program for Moms. She is an ACE-certified Personal Trainer, Lifestyle & Weight Management Consultant and Kickboxing Instructor with over fifteen years of exercise experience. She has lectured to groups on her fitness plan and is a freelance writer on the topics of fitness and general nutrition as well as the humorous side of motherhood.

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